Supreme Court ruling could affect Wis. districts

MILWAUKEE — Most headlines from the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rulings involved health care. But an unrelated decision could affect how Wisconsin’s election maps get drawn eventually.

The court upheld a Maryland redistricting law that would count prisoners as living at their last known address. Before that they were counted as living in their prison cells.

Here’s why it matters. Every 10 years, election boundaries are redrawn to make sure that voting districts contain roughly the same number of people. Prisoners can’t vote, but if they “live” in prison their presence gives more voting power to the district’s other constituents.

Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Fred Kessler wasn’t successful in changing Wisconsin’s law a few years ago. But he tells Wisconsin Public Radio that could change — albeit not for 10 years.